Apponequet girls still unbeaten after historic tourney win

LAKEVILLE — It's been a season of firsts for the Apponequet girls soccer team.

Laurie Los

LAKEVILLE — It's been a season of firsts for the Apponequet girls soccer team.

Not only did the Lakers clinch the program's first-ever South Coast Conference championship, they recorded the program's first unbeaten regular season with a 14-0-2 record.

Apponequet enjoyed another first Sunday night.

The No. 2 Lakers beat 15th-seeded Old Rochester 2-0 in the first round of the MIAA Div. 2 South Sectional tournament for Apponequet's first playoff win in girls soccer.

"Every game, the motto is breaking history," said Apponequet coach Robin Ireland. "They have that mindset that everything they do is going to be good."

With plenty of talent and experience, Ireland knew the Lakers had the potential to do something special this year. He just didn't expect this.

"I knew we should do better this year, but we've definitely exceeded expectations so far," he said.

Ireland is hoping that continues with the Lakers hosting seventh-seeded East Bridgewater (13-1-4) Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the quarterfinals.

"This has been a few years coming," he said. "We've been building and building and building, and each year we've been getting better."

It took nearly 24 minutes for Apponequet to get on the scoreboard Sunday. Old Rochester sophomore goalie Mikayla DeManche turned away the first five shots by the Lakers, but couldn't get a hand on a high shot into the top right corner of the net by Apponequet senior Andrea Chaput on a pass form Emma Leombruno.

"She was really good," said Chaput of DeManche. "You just had to drill it into the sides where she couldn't get it."

Ireland knew eventually Chaput would find the back of the net.

"I knew it would come," he said. "With the amount of chances, I knew Andrea was going to get one. That's classic Andrea. She get the ball and she turns and hits it clean in the top corner and it was unstoppable. When she gets a little bit of space, she's pretty deadly."

The Lakers added an insurance goal 32:57 into the second half when Ally Smith sent a shot past DeManche into the bottom left corner for a 2-0 advantage.

The Bulldogs (10-7-3) outshot Apponequet 5-4 in the second half, but couldn't capitalize. The Bulldogs' best scoring chance came on a shot by sophomore Bailey Truesdale that Apponequet goalie Abby Couto stopped with a diving save with 14 minutes left in the game.

"Second half I thought we played a lot better," said Old Rochester coach Jeff Lombard. "If Abby didn't make that diving backwards save, who knows. Maybe it goes into the net and it's 1-1 and things change."

Couto recorded six saves to earn her 11th shutout of the year.

"It's rare for us to give up a goal," said Ireland, adding that the team gave up just six all season. "The defense is a big part of that, but she's also made some amazing saves."

CHAPUT ON beating old rochester for the third time this year: "It feels awesome. We knew they would come hard because we beat them twice, but we pushed through it and now we're off to the next game. We've just got to work together and we can't underestimate any team."

ireland: "We have a lot of fast girls. They're quick to the ball. They're big, strong girls, so if they go for a 50-50 ball, they're going to win it."

lombard: "The majority of this team is sophomores so they've come a long way this year and we've done some good things and we've done some bad things. It's disappointing to lose obviously, but it's disappointing to know we could do so much better and it didn't happen."

PRAISE FOR DEMANCHE: Even though DeManche gave up two goals, she made several impressive stops and finished the game with 11 saves. "Mikayla has come a long, long way from the beginning of the season," Lombard said. "To see the maturity she has gotten over the last two months is just amazing. She's strong. She's vocal and she's confident. That's good for us going forward next year."

SOUTHCOASTVARSITY.COM star of the game: Chaput's first-half goal set the tone for the Lakers. It was her 17th of the season.

NOTES: The Lakers had swept the Bulldogs in their regular season series, winning 3-0 on Sept. 19 and 3-2 on Oct. 1. ... Apponequet outshot Old Rochester 13-6. ... The Lakers had all three of their corner kicks in the first half while the Bulldogs had all three of their corners in the second half.